Welcome to Cinebur! We can't wait to see your vision and give your film the chance to be screened to our venue network across the world in live cinema screenings. So, who are we anyway?
At Cinebur, we believe there's a fundamental difference between watching movies versus going there - it's the latter that makes cinema, where people can invest in your film with their community and experience what it means to be human together. Now that's cinema.
Cinebur might just be the first real global film festival. No, we don't mean streaming your film to people's smartphones - we're not an online festival; and no, we don't just mean we've attached our brand to multiple film festivals where you have to submit multiple times. We have a no-bullshit policy when it comes to films, so listen up: when you submit your film to Cinebur, your film has the chance to be screened by multiple venues in our host network around the world.
Cinebur is a platform - we even have an app, like Airbnb - that connects moviegoers to unique venues that host cinema-like screenings. Our venue network includes boutique hotels, wineries, art studios, villas and even charities that host screening events to wide audiences that get to watch indie films. For most of our screenings, we license indie films from big distributors like FiGa Films or New Europe Film Sales just like what MUBI or Netflix does, except we distribute films in non-theatrical exhibitions. At the same time, we also give more up-and-coming filmmakers the chance to submit their films and screen them in our network.
We have revived the short film format by playing short films at the start of the screening, like Carolina Markowiczs's Cannes-winning "The Orphan" or Konstantinos Samaras's Drama-winning "Three Eggholders, Almost Four" which are both on Cinebur. And for longer-form work, like your features, we may offer complete distribution on Cinebur, so our audiences pay to go watch your film's screenings - which you get a cut from. That's why Cinebur is more than a film festival. On Cinebur, you have the chance to distribute your film directly to live audiences, so they can experience your film in a cinematic setting. This is the future of cinema, especially during these difficult times when cinemas remain closed and film festivals resort to online screenings, whatever that means.
Cinebur is where that revolution starts. We see the vision. We hope you do too.
We are only interested in selecting films that we actually want to screen to audiences, so if your film gets selected, it means you are guaranteed at least one live screening of your film to a physical audience.
For short films, we will screen your film at the start of a screening which we think fits the theme of the accompanied feature film - that's why we've got separate categories for each submission.
For feature films, we will consider accepting your film onto our collection. That means your film will officially be distributed by Cinebur to our platform, and people will be paying to see your movie specifically, where you can earn from box office sales. On average, filmmakers earn €40 per screening on Cinebur. That means you could potentially cover your submission fee from a single screening alone... pretty cool right? Our license is not exclusive, so you may still continue to submit to other festivals and find other distribution. We do ask, however, that your film is not available online for free and will not be made so throughout the course of the license.
All films screened on Cinebur are given a fair bit of time and thought before being selected, so once we find those diamonds, we make sure to market them to our network via our mailing list, social media, and - of course - our app. Yes, we will add your film to our app, complete with the movie details and press kit, your director's statement, full cast & crew with their respective profile pictures, and overall, we'll do our best to get your film screened to audiences who want to see it.
Last - but definitely not least - after every screening, we gather data and analytics on your film's performance, so you can get a more accurate representation of your film's screening and audience. We always ask user feedback after every screening, so you will even get the chance to hear more about what your audience thought of your film via reviews and comments.